news app has no compatible version for the upcoming Nextcloud 30

[brot]

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Explain the Problem

What problem did you encounter?

news app has no compatible version for the upcoming Nextcloud 30 (currently Nextcloud 30.0.0 beta 1)

Steps to Reproduce

Explain what you did to encounter the issue

1. Change update channel to "beta" channel
2. Go the the Administration settings overview
3. "news" app will be reported under "Apps missing compatible version"

System Information

• News app version: 25.0.0-alpha8
• Nextcloud version: Nextcloud Hub 8 (29.0.4)
• Cron type: system cron
• PHP version: 8.2.21
• Database and version: PostgreSQL 15.7
• Browser and version: Firefox 128.0.3
• OS and version: macOS 14.5

[kinggrowler]

Is this app dead? There have been no updates for a long time, and the lack of updates is blocking my upgrade to a newer version of Nextcloud. Is it time to move on to a different RSS reader?

[SMillerDev]

Is this app dead? There have been no updates for a long time.

I don't think a month is very long: https://github.com/nextcloud/news/releases/tag/25.0.0-alpha8

[kinggrowler]

Is this app dead? There have been no updates for a long time.

I don't think a month is very long: https://github.com/nextcloud/news/releases/tag/25.0.0-alpha8

Sure, that's fair. I hadn't seen all the pre-release versions, I'd only noticed that the last stable release was from Sept. 2023. There has been a tremendous amount of work done on the pre-release of v25, and the devs are to be commended for their hard work.

I got frustrated because News is a critical Nextcloud app for me, and I'm currently stuck on Nextcloud 27.1.11, because there's no stable upgrade path to Nextcloud v28, 29, etc, unless I leave News behind. I'd prefer to keep my Nextcloud version more current and up-to-date, but News is critical for me, so I'm staying with the latest version that is still supported by the stable version of News. I've seen some discusions on how to manually edit files to get the pre-release version of News working with current versions of Nextcloud, but I'd prefer to upgrade both in a more organic and fool-proof way. I can wait for a stable release.

[SMillerDev]

I've seen some discusions on how to manually edit files to get the pre-release version of News working with current versions of Nextcloud, but I'd prefer to upgrade both in a more organic and fool-proof way. I can wait for a stable release.

You only need to edit files if you want to run the stable version on an unsupported (by news) nextcloud version. The unstable version doesn't need any tweaks, but is missing some UI elements that the stable version has.

[cstackpole]

Greetings, Similar situation to @kinggrowler . Stuck on old version of Nextcloud because News is a critical app for me.

For those that find this thread...

You only need to edit files if you want to run the stable version on an unsupported (by news) nextcloud version.

Seems like this might be the best information: https://github.com/nextcloud/news/issues/2703

The unstable version doesn't need any tweaks, but is missing some UI elements that the stable version has.

I believe this might be the best location to see what is missing: https://github.com/nextcloud/news/issues/2503

I don't know - just what I found in the time I spent today trying to understand where things are at. It would be nice to have something very clear in the documentation (or the main README) that gives directions on the path forward.

After reading various threads linking all over the place, I'm still nervous to upgrade from 27 as both Nextcloud and News are critical for me (self-hosting for myself, my wife, and two other family members - not a large setup, but we all use it every day). On the other-hand, how long do I risk being open to security issues because I'm no longer getting patches? It's a really terrible position to be in: upgrade for security following random threads for hacky work-arounds or hold out for a supported release?

[Grotax]

I can understand that some people are annoyed by the situation.

The thing is News needs someone or multiple people to fix and complete the frontend.

We had to throw away the old UI as it is outdated technology.

Unfortunately News does not have anyone like that. Nobody is willing to spend time on the frontend/UI.

And it does not make sense to release a "stable" version with an unfinished UI and broken UI.

If someone would spend the time to understand the frontend and fix the broken stuff complete the missing features we would be much closer to a stable release again.

If you do not use the web UI and only external clients like the android app you are fine to go with the alpha version. At some point there will also be an alpha version supporting NC 30.

[cstackpole]

Thanks for replying and for the work you've done for this project.That's unfortunate and sad news, however. Unfortunately, I know nothing about Vue and would not be the help that is needed. I wish I knew how to help.

I've mentioned this for years now, but I'll say it again in hopes that someone with authority hears it - I really wish Nextcloud had a way for users to say "Pay attention to this app; it's important to me." I've told people who work for Nextcloud to their face at conferences before (including this year!) "I know I'm a small home user, but I'd pay to have the apps I care about supported." Yes, I know - some developers have support/tips/buy-coffee donations - but there's no way to really say "I'm paying for this Nextcloud app I adore!" I donate to other Open Source projects, but there isn't a good way that I know about within the Nextcloud ecosystem without being a big company. Maybe one day Nextcloud will have a way for us small home users to better support the app creators. :weary:

I do primarily use the web UI, however, if I need to switch to a client to update I can try that. I'll find a news app that works in my current setup then try an upgrade to alpha. I'll report back when I've got something that others might find useful/interesting.

Thanks!

[mschilli87]

Just as an extra data point: Today I updated from 27.1.10 to 28.0.9 and from there to 29.0.6 while keeping the News app at the stable channel. I added the CSS linked at https://github.com/nextcloud/news/issues/2703#issuecomment-2323494661 via the Custom CSS app and at least to me the News app works just as well as before.

[britter]

I'm running NextCloud 29 with the nightly version of the News app. The UI has some glitches and misses some features but overall it's working fine for me. My suggestion to the maintainers is to release what you have as official, even if it does not have all the features of the old UI. It's better to get something into the hands of users then putting it on the shelf forever.

[dvzrv]

Hi! I'm packaging this project for Arch Linux. We currently are blocked on upgrading to nextcloud 30, as none of the (pre)releases is marked compatible.

Would it be possible to create another pre-release? Otherwise I will have to remove the package from the repositories.

Thanks! :pray:

[cstackpole]

Reporting back because I said I would. :smile: I tried a number of desktop apps and didn't like any of them. So I too ended up upgrading to 29 with the beta and the Custom CSS change. It "works". The only real annoyance I have is that when clicking on different feeds, the scroll bar doesn't go to the top. :man_shrugging: So I have to scroll up every time. But everything else I care about is working. I'll sit on 29 for a while and hope for something released before 29 becomes unsupported. Thank you everyone!

[Grotax]

Hi! I'm packaging this project for Arch Linux. We currently are blocked on upgrading to nextcloud 30, as none of the (pre)releases is marked compatible.

Would it be possible to create another pre-release? Otherwise I will have to remove the package from the repositories.

Thanks! 🙏

Currently not possible #2687 needs to be finished then news would support NC30 and then I could create a new release. But there are broken unit tests and someone has to fix that.

[sureloc]

Pardon the dumb question, but how can I install the alpha versions?

[stevleibelt]

@sureloc

I have no demo-system available so I have to craft the how to from my brain ... which is super dangerous. Additionally, you are enabling an alpha application on your system. There is no comfort anymore :).

With that out of the way:

• Login via ssh
• cd to the place where the occ file is
• php occ app:update --allow-unstable news
• php occ app:enable news -f

[sureloc]

Thanks!

[ace02000]

I love this app and use it every day. However, it blocks the update to nextcloud 30. I would be very happy about the further development instead of switching to another rss reader. thank you :)

[SMillerDev]

If you find a bunch of Vue developers that are willing to work for free please send them here, that's all the influence you or me has on the continued existence of news as a nextcloud app.

[Siggi0904]

Hi, how I can upgrade from alpha 8 to alpha 9 ?

[rigrig]

Hi, how I can upgrade from alpha 8 to alpha 9 ?

1. Under Administration Settings (settings/admin/overview), switch the Current Update Channel to "Beta" (don't install any Nextcloud updates though)
2. The Apps page should now show the News app update
3. Update the News app
4. Switch the Current Update Channel back, so you don't accidentally update other things

[Siggi0904]

Works like a charm, great thanks.

[schklerg]

Related - I upgraded news to alpha13, but Nextcloud server is telling me that this version is not compatible with upgrading to 29.0.9 (I'm on 29.0.8 and in the beta channel). So it's not only blocking the move to 30 but even upgrades to current 29 it seems?

[SMillerDev]

The app config defines the compatibility as >= 29, <= 30 so if it does that's on nextcloud/server

[schklerg]

The app config defines the compatibility as >= 29, <= 30 so if it does that's on nextcloud/server

I see that in the file and yet the UI tells me news is missing a compatible version. I'm not even sure where to troubleshoot that since the nextcloud info.xml does indeed show that. Should I bug main nextcloud or do you have any ideas (restarted, maint mode on-off done)

[SMillerDev]

You should definitely ask Nextcloud about that. All news controls is the XML file

[tsipizic]

I cannot update to alpha versions later than alpha9 even with --allow-unstable option. Anyone else has this problem?

[Grotax]

Which PHP version do you use?

[tsipizic]

Which PHP version do you use?

PHP 8.1. I just found out from another ticket that news requires PHP 8.2. That is a bit weird considering that NC 30 works on PHP 8.1 and only NC 31 may deprecate it

[Grotax]

I see yea than that is the issue, I wish the nextcloud updater would communicate that better. It could simply say that php 8.2 is required for an update.

Nextcloud 30 works with php 8.1 that is correct but it is deprecated: https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/30/admin_manual/installation/system_requirements.html

But regardless of that community apps like news are not required to support all versions of Nextcloud or all supported PHP versions. Where we draw the line is a decision that is made by the maintainers of the app. And you have to understand that it is not that easy to support multiple php versions at once, since you have to deal with deprecations and removal of functions. Also we depend on libraries which in return also depend on certain php versions. I think that News has been quite balanced regarding this over the years and we have supported as much as we can.

[pbek]

I use the "official" Nextcloud docker image with PHP 8.2.25 and Nextcloud 30 also says that News is not compatible while using the latest alpha version of News. Maybe Nextcloud just looks at the stable channel?

[Grotax]

Yea no idea about that, there might be issues in the updater or how stuff is handled in the docker image. I would recommend to report this in the docker repo then.